Manager Coleman said: “You can’t manufacture or pretend — you’re either a team player or you’re not.

“You’re either comfortable being in a team environment and happy to work to a certain type of ethic, or be in a place with a certain bunch of people who enjoy working together. Balo is exactly that, like all the lads.

“It’s easy, on a shiny day, to say we have great team spirit. But that came from the darker days. Bale is the same as the other players on that.”

Ronaldo, for all the preening and posturing, should command complete respect.

For some reason people love it when he dips below his exceptionally high standards, revelling in his misfortune as he missed a penalty against Austria or mocking him when he lost his rag with little Iceland.

He finally spluttered into life when he scored twice against Hungary in the final group game here in Lyon.

John Hartson: I'd take Bale over Ronaldo any day

GARETH BALE says it is not about him against Cristiano Ronaldo.

He insists that it is Wales v Portugal in Lyon tonight and nothing else.
Publicly, he’s quite right to say that. Privately? There’s no way that’s what he’s thinking.
I know Gareth from my stint with the Wales squad. You simply won’t find anyone who thinks more about the team.
Ronaldo? Well, we all know it’s all about him.
Don’t get me wrong, that single-mindedness is one of the things that makes him a great player.
He’s not happy or satisfied being part of a winning team. He’s only got a smile on his face if he’s scored the winner.
I played with one or two players like that. I’ll not name names as that wouldn’t be fair.
There were a couple who wouldn’t speak to me if I was the match-winner. But there’s nothing wrong with that.
I admire Ronaldo. I could watch him all day, every day. The amount of goals he’s scored in La Liga is remarkable.
But that huffy side to him — when things aren’t going his way — lets him down. I’d take Bale over Ronaldo any day.
Wales are a proper team. You can see the spirit and bond between the players.
And Bale buys into that. He knows he’s the talisman, because, ultimately, he’s the Real Madrid superstar.
But he’s still willing to run back 60 yards to cover in the 85th minute when his team are two goals up. He knows that without the guys around him, he’s nothing.
I’m not sure Portugal have that bond. But they still have quality all over the pitch.
It worries me that everyone in Wales seems to think it’s a foregone conclusion that we’ll get to the final.
It’s nothing of the sort. If Wales are going to get there, it’s going to take something extra special.
The players need that mindset. Chris Coleman (left) won’t let them get ahead of themselves. He’s said throughout the tournament that Wales can’t think too far ahead.
It’s a blow that Aaron Ramsey is suspended, because he’s been sensational. But Ben Davies is as big a loss.
For me, he was the man who gave Wales their biggest moment of the Euros so far.
The performance against Belgium is what everyone will talk about in years to come.
But I think back to the first game against Slovakia when it was 0-0 early in the first half.
Slovakia had a great chance to take the lead but Davies made an unbelievable goal-line clearance. Thinking back, it was a huge moment for us.
Had Slovakia taken the lead, I’m not sure we’d have fought back to win the game.
Coleman has various options to make up for the loss of Ramsey and Davies. Hopefully they will have a final to return for. The fact we’re even talking about that is mind-boggling.
We can definitely do it but it’s going to take out biggest performance of the tournament.
It may be a moment of magic from our main man.
Bale will be thinking about proving to his clubmate that he’s every bit the superstar.
Our guy just has a different way of going about it.

And those doubting his leadership, or influence on the Portugal squad, should watch the footage of the word he has in the ear of Joao Moutinho before the penalty shootout win over Poland.

Ronaldo beckons the midfielder as he tries to sneak away and is heard to say: “Come kick, you hit them well. If we lose then **** it.

“Be strong. Come on. Be strong.”

Ronaldo scored the first spot-kick, Moutinho the third as Portugal won 5-3. He can have that affect.

This is a supremely motivated man desperate to go one step further than Euro 2004 — where Portugal lost to Greece in the final — and finally win the thing.